diff --git a/src/sysusers/sysusers.c b/src/sysusers/sysusers.c
index b3beca431b..d532d0bc6d 100644
--- a/src/sysusers/sysusers.c
+++ b/src/sysusers/sysusers.c
@@ -989,7 +989,7 @@ static int uid_is_ok(uid_t uid, const char *name, bool check_with_gid) {
                 if (p)
                         return 0;
                 if (!IN_SET(errno, 0, ENOENT))
-                        return -errno;
+                        log_warning_errno(errno, "Unexpected failure while looking up UID '" UID_FMT "' via NSS, assuming it doesn't exist: %m", uid);
 
                 if (check_with_gid) {
                         errno = 0;
@@ -998,7 +998,7 @@ static int uid_is_ok(uid_t uid, const char *name, bool check_with_gid) {
                                 if (!streq(g->gr_name, name))
                                         return 0;
                         } else if (!IN_SET(errno, 0, ENOENT))
-                                return -errno;
+                                log_warning_errno(errno, "Unexpected failure while looking up GID '" GID_FMT "' via NSS, assuming it doesn't exist: %m", uid);
                 }
         }
 
@@ -1103,7 +1103,7 @@ static int add_user(Item *i) {
                         return 0;
                 }
                 if (!errno_is_not_exists(errno))
-                        return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to check if user %s already exists: %m", i->name);
+                        log_warning_errno(errno, "Unexpected failure while looking up user '%s' via NSS, assuming it doesn't exist: %m", i->name);
         }
 
         /* Try to use the suggested numeric UID */
@@ -1219,7 +1219,7 @@ static int gid_is_ok(gid_t gid, const char *groupname, bool check_with_uid) {
                 if (g)
                         return 0;
                 if (!IN_SET(errno, 0, ENOENT))
-                        return -errno;
+                        log_warning_errno(errno, "Unexpected failure while looking up GID '" GID_FMT "' via NSS, assuming it doesn't exist: %m", gid);
 
                 if (check_with_uid) {
                         errno = 0;
@@ -1227,7 +1227,7 @@ static int gid_is_ok(gid_t gid, const char *groupname, bool check_with_uid) {
                         if (p)
                                 return 0;
                         if (!IN_SET(errno, 0, ENOENT))
-                                return -errno;
+                                log_warning_errno(errno, "Unexpected failure while looking up GID '" GID_FMT "' via NSS, assuming it doesn't exist: %m", gid);
                 }
         }
 
@@ -1257,7 +1257,7 @@ static int get_gid_by_name(const char *name, gid_t *gid) {
                         return 0;
                 }
                 if (!errno_is_not_exists(errno))
-                        return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to check if group %s already exists: %m", name);
+                        log_warning_errno(errno, "Unexpected failure while looking up group '%s' via NSS, assuming it doesn't exist: %m", name);
         }
 
         return -ENOENT;
diff --git a/test/units/TEST-74-AUX-UTILS.sysusers.sh b/test/units/TEST-74-AUX-UTILS.sysusers.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..dcd29938b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/units/TEST-74-AUX-UTILS.sysusers.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
+set -eux
+set -o pipefail
+
+# shellcheck source=test/units/util.sh
+. "$(dirname "$0")"/util.sh
+
+at_exit() {
+    set +e
+    userdel -r foobarbaz
+    umount /run/systemd/userdb/
+}
+
+# Check that we indeed run under root to make the rest of the test work
+[[ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ]]
+
+trap at_exit EXIT
+
+# Ensure that a non-responsive NSS socket doesn't make sysusers fail
+mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /run/systemd/userdb/
+touch /run/systemd/userdb/io.systemd.DynamicUser
+echo 'u foobarbaz' | SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL=debug systemd-sysusers -
+grep -q foobarbaz /etc/passwd